Voice of the Dragon
by CrypticMoonFang
Summary: "We have two options. One, we ask for help. Two, we fight alone. Either way...the magical world will be exposed."
1. Chapter 1

~Chapter 1~

"Fu, there's no time!" Jake yelled to the voice on the other side of the phone. He flapped his wings to gain altitude, his red dragon scales shimmering against the moon's faint glow. Occasionally he passed under thin, short clouds and the reflection was momentarily deluded. Under normal circumstances it would be a very peaceful scene. But these were no normal circumstances.

"You think I don't know that?" the voice on the other end shouted back. "Listen, kid, I'm typing as fast as I can; my paws are about to fall off!"

"Well you need to do better. Things aren't looking good right now..." Jake's word trailed off as he circled around a hill. Some of the landscape was already wearing away. It only proved how grim things would be in a few short weeks.

"I know, why else would I be on this computer for six days straight!"

A strong gale pushed him back a little bit. He chose to land, sensing another oncoming storm. The patch of dirt under his left flank gave way, tripping him and forcing him to crawl back up.

"Scratch that last part. It's worse than we thought," he said.

"What do you mean worse? We only have about six months and I still have nothing to go on. How can it possibly get any worse than that?"

He sighed. "Well, the hill might as well be melting at this point. I don't think we have that long. I would say we probably have about two months. What do you think will happen after those two months are up?"

"Well, kid, you can kiss the world goodbye, that's what'll hap- Wait!" The sound of typing was heard over the line. "I think I found something. It's called 'the voice of the dragon'. Says here it's a music box with an enormous amount of power."

Feeling water droplets and seeing heavy clouds, Jake lifted himself into the air and started back toward his home.

"Kid?" the voice said.

"It's great that you found a magical box to help us, but even if it had the power of a thousand suns, how do we even find it? Music boxes are usually small. We don't even know what it looks like!"

"Well, that's the thing. There's a sketch of it, but it's not exactly the most detailed picture in the world. I don't think a little girl's finger painting will come in handy. The description says it's actually an evil box, and it'll destroy whoever tries to touch it," the voice said.

"I thought you said it was helpful!" Jake cried. "How are we going to control a-"

"Hold up, hold up! Listen, it's supposed to contain an enormous amount of power. If we can get it without directly touching it, maybe we can release that power. And before you say anything else, I'd think about giving it a shot. All the dragons combined couldn't defeat the Dark Dragon. You need to get Rose and tell her about this. Oh, and another thing, keep in mind that there's no vortex to suck him in this time," the voice explained. "We'll need to bring him down once and for all...or else the world will be engulfed in evil. Life as we know it will be completely obliterated."

"Yeah, about Rose... She's really ticked off at me and she hasn't listened to a thing I've said for the past three weeks," he murmured.

The frustrated voice on the other end sighed deeply. "What did you do this time?"

Just now realizing he had lost about twenty feet of altitude, Jake flapped his wings and caught an air current. His wings assumed a gliding position, and he rode effortlessly on the winds beneath them. He truly had no idea why Rose was so angry. He hadn't done anything wrong, not that he could remember anyway. It just sprung up out of the blue and continued on into a three week time frame, stretching for a fourth week. He didn't know what was going on with her, only that she was furious with him and brushed off all his apologies for whatever it was he did wrong. It had to have been pretty bad, too, being as she absolutely refused to answer his phone calls. Any voice mail he left was ignored. She had all but shut him out of her life. She wouldn't even tell him why...

Jake hung up at that point. Rose meant the world to him, and he would do anything and everything to make her happy. Even when she was a member of the heinous Huntsclan, even when she was convinced that dragons were disgusting creatures worthy of destruction, even when she was determined that it was her destiny to slay a dragon and take her place as a fully recognized dragon slayer, even when she was bent on slaying him...he never tried to hurt her. Huntsgirl wasn't just a human that had spent her entire life training to slay mythical creatures, she was found out to be Rose. As a dragon, he had told her she was different, that she there was another side to her. She fought against the idea, truly believing she was meant to help the Huntsclan rid the world of mythical creatures. However, that special side of her emerged when she had chained him to a tree, in a manner which he couldn't escape.

He remembered that scene all too well.

_Her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows furrowed as she ran toward him at an amazing speed. "It's over, dragon. Say goodbye!" she growled, holding up her advanced tool, designed for killing mythical creatures._

_"Rose! No!" he cried._

_She stopped dead in her tracks. "Wha...What did you call me?"  
_

_"Rose," he replied. "And if you want to say goodbye, say it to my human face."  
_

_He reversed his dragon form and showed her his human disguise, or rather, his human identity. Black dragon claws shrunk back into vulnerable hands, feet, and nails. Reptilian scales and the ridges on his back pulled back, leaving defenseless human flesh. His tail moved back to its rightful place as a tailbone. His maw, nozzle, sharp teeth, and pointed ears were forced back into his skull, leaving the most important part of his identity. His face.  
_

_"Rose, it's me," he said.  
_

_A look of pure shock rushed over her. "Jake?" _

_She pulled off her mask. There was a decision that had to be made now. Jake was a dragon, and she was a dragon slayer. She would either have to destroy the boy she loved to prove herself to the only family she'd ever known, or let him live and disgrace the Huntsclan.  
_

_Jake, on the other hand, had no say in the matter. Either he would die tonight, or she would spare him a bloody death. The only thing he could do was hope she would make the right choice.  
_

_In the final moment that decided whether a dragon was to be terminated or whether a human would be spared his life, she raised her weapon high in the air.  
_

"And she set me free," he mumbled to himself.

He continued on the current's path. The moon still had such a beautiful glow to it, and with its light still reflecting off his scales, it was still the perfect picture of mysterious beauty. If he was going to get Rose to listen to him, maybe he should start putting a little more effort into their relationship. But what could he do? Rose was, at one time, convinced that dragons were hideous, nasty reptiles. Even though she'd afterward told him she didn't care what he looked like, which just so happened to be at the time he was shedding his skin, he still wondered if that was actually true. All her life she had been told these stories about mythical creatures, dragons especially. Unicorns were worthy of hunting for their horns, something to be a prized trophy, and something that would sell dearly on the black market. Many other creatures were caught and used as tests for trainees to show off the skills they'd learned thus far. But the ultimate prize was no unique appendage or stolen piece of gold from a leprechaun, nor was it the dust of a pixie or a vision from oracle twins. No...the ultimate prize was the pelt of a dragon.

Thankfully, Jake or any other mythical creature had to worry about the Huntsclan anymore. It all happened so fast, like a vague dream. Rose had helped the Huntsmaster to collect all thirteen Aztec skulls, which, when brought together, would grant the holder of the thirteenth skull a wish. Right when the Huntsmaster was about to wish for the riddance of mythical creatures, Rose pushed him out of the way, quickly grabbed the crystal skull, and made her wish. But it was a wish Jake had never once anticipated. She wished for the destruction of the Huntsclan, even though she was one of them. As each of them were pulled up by a dragon-shaped birthmark, Jake held Rose down, too reluctant to let her go. Now it was his turn to make a wish, even though his primary mission was to destroy the skulls so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. He wished Rose had never been taken by the Huntsclan. Rose was saved by his wish, but she'd lived a completely different life now, and therefore had no memory of the Huntsclan or the existence of mythical creatures. He threw the thirteenth Aztec skull onto the concrete pavement of the rooftop. It smashed, and destroyed the other twelve skulls. He flew away after that, devastated at the fact that he was unlikely to ever win Rose over again.

The problem, when Jake finally found her in Hong Kong, was trying to get her to remember him. The only way she'd gotten her memory back was a picture of Jake and her left at her apartment by accident, one that depicted the two of them at the school dance back before any of this crazy chain of events happened. Jake hadn't wished for complete and permanent amnesia, and it was because of that that she was able to remember everything despite having lived a different life.

After that, she helped Jake and all the other dragons take down the Dark Dragon, an evil dragon who wanted mythical creatures to rule the Earth, just as they had before humans came along and forced them into hiding. He was twisted, though, and was completely consumed with darkness. However, the only reason he was defeated was by Rose managing to shove him into a vortex that would keep him contained for another thousand years, when the mystical tower of dragons would appear once more.

The problem now was that the Dark Dragon had gained so much power through a special potion. Now he was using that power to gradually dig his way out of the vortex, and the hill on which the tower had rested was starting to give way as the Dark Dragon came closer and closer to freedom. If they couldn't find a way to stop him, he would break free entirely and fulfill his wish. Last time they managed to get away by the bare skin of their teeth, but now would be so much different...

"Fu was right. We need Rose," Jake mumbled, trying to keep his thoughts in order. "But she won't answer my phone calls and I can't just go up to her door and start talking about magical creatures in front of her parents and twin sister. I don't really have a way to talk to her, and even if I did, she wouldn't listen."

He continued trying to figure out what he did so wrong to have made her this angry. He couldn't come up with anything though. He'd been a good boyfriend, loving, caring, compassionate... He liked to surprise her every now and then with chocolates or flowers. Lately chocolates and flowers weren't working. And the chocolate, that was powerful stuff! He'd never met a single girl who wasn't a chocoholic. Rose especially loved it. She could wipe out an entire box in just one day. So her refusal of chocolate was big; it meant he'd done something horribly wrong. Maybe she was disappointed in him for something...? But _what?!_

He sighed as he got off the current, flapping his wings again as he prepared to land. His dad finally found out about the whole dragon business, as well as the fact that there was a whole world of magic awaiting discovery.

His feet touched the ground. The talons on his toes dug into the earth so he could keep his balance. He had no choice. If Rose wouldn't listen to his phone calls, then she would listen to him face to face. He looked down. The storm was setting in, meaning it was a bad time to wait near her window until she acknowledged him. Nonetheless, and bad time or not, he flew up to her window, remembering her address. There he hovered, finding no place to land or cling to. If he stayed in dragon form, the chances of her coming out to talk to him were greatly heightened.

For hours, he pumped his wings, trying to stay level with the glass. The rain had started, and soon became a downpour. She would see him any minute now... Yeah, any minute she would come into her room and see him right outside her window, where he would wait for days if he had to.

Another hour passed. His wings had had plenty of flight during training, so the muscles were built up pretty well. They were straining slightly, but not nearly enough to get tired. Any minute...any minute... How long was a minute supposed to last exactly?

Two more hours passed. His wings were becoming a little tired, but they could hold up for awhile longer. Besides, they couldn't give out now if the wanted to. Rose was finally home, and even more exciting, she was entering her room.

She pulled a hairband out of her golden locks and set it on her dresser. Jake could only watch, hoping she would see him soon.

The rain continued to fall, pattering against his scaly armor, sliding off his back and wings. It was truly bone-chilling. The moon's light was entirely blocked out by the storm cloud. A mysterious haze fell about him. It was actually a good thing. The whole magical world was completely unknown to humans, and it was planned to stay that way. Seeing a dragon hovering in the air above their heads would alarm everyone. If they found out about mythical creatures, they would be curious about them. Biologists would be more than happy to look further into the matter, even if it meant capturing and dissecting so many unfortunate victims. As was proven by the Huntsclan, humans had the power and intellect to create such harmful weapons. If they wanted, they could wipe out every living thing, even the protectors of the magical world...dragons. No mythical creature wanted to take on the entire human race. To protect a mythical creature that needed to come out of hiding, dragons had assumed a human disguise to blend in with the human world. No one, aside from the few humans that truly believed there was another world just waiting to be discovered, attempted to look into the matter. Thus, no detection was established.

For another three hours, Rose went about her business without knowing where he was. His wings were getting cramped, making flying both painful and difficult. She didn't notice him. She didn't even wonder why he hadn't called yet, being as he called her every day. She didn't look out the window. She didn't seem to be worried about him. It was like she didn't even care.

He looked down at the pavement. His wings could use a rest after holding him in the air for so long. Once his feet touched the ground, he transformed into the human disguise he'd been forced to wear since birth. It was considered natural now; many generations of dragons before him had done it. He wasn't told he was a dragon until he first breathed fire at a school camping trip. It was then that his grandfather, a wise and experienced dragon, began training him the skills he needed to protect himself and the magical world. His grandfather was the Chinese dragon, yet lived in New York. Having skipped his mother's generation, Jake was left as the American dragon. His little sister, Haley, was a dragon as well. She was second in line for the title of the American dragon. If something happened to Jake, she would take his place. For this reason, Haley also underwent dragon training. Her trainer was the Korean dragon, Sun. Each dragon was assigned a specific country to protect. Jake, in fact, was the first American dragon. His rival, Nerf, was the first Australian dragon.

And speaking of countries to protect, dragon masters, and old rivalries, the Dragon Council was waiting for the other dragons to gather. The meeting would be held in Britain. The host, not surprisingly, wasn't the British dragon, but the Council itself. It consisted of the wisest and most experienced dragons. And unfortunately, the only reason for the world's dragons to come together was to devise a plan for defeating the Dark Dragon. He was a very powerful foe, the most powerful of all dragons. Lao Shi, Jake's grandfather, was the only dragon to engage in battle with the Dark Dragon and live.

Until, that is, Jake himself had taken on the Dark Dragon twice. He had proven himself as a brave dragon worthy of admiration. More importantly, he had surpassed his dragon master and by doing so, became the most powerful of dragons. The exception was the Dark Dragon. Jake had only taken him on once by himself, but when the Dark Dragon appeared again with ten times the power he had before, Jake couldn't beat him alone. While he was considered a hero for his courageous attempts and otherwise reckless actions, Rose was the one who managed to push the Dark Dragon into a vortex that spanned time itself.

And now she had to do it again. To be able to claw his way out of a warp in time, it proved that his power had heightened beyond belief. Rose's skills as a dragon slayer had proved extremely helpful before, but now it would take a miracle to save the world.

That was why the dragons had to come together. This time was different; Rose couldn't do it alone. A precise plan was needed, as well as countless other backup plans.

Jake put two hands up to shield himself from the rain and snuggled against the brick wall. Rose was three stories up and was unlikely to see him all the way down here. She was needed more than ever this time.

Sadly, standing out in the pouring rain wasn't going to help anything. Rose wasn't likely to notice him out here anyway.

He transformed and spread his wings to take flight.


	2. Chapter 2

~Chapter 2~

Jake heard the door to his room slowly creak as it opened. He ignored it and kept throwing the baseball against the ceiling with his tail.

"Hey, kid." Fu popped up beside his bed. Talking was allowed in the house now that his dad knew everything. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah. Just thinking," he sighed.

The dog smiled and wagged his tail. "Yeah, well, I would imagine that much. It's not every day the destruction of the world-"

"No...that's not it," he interrupted. "It's Rose. You told me to 'round her up' but I can't. She won't talk to me, won't even listen to me. I've sent her mail, texts, email, voicemail, phone calls, everything! She's ticked off at me right now."

"Well...uh...what did you do?" Fu asked.

Jake just continued bouncing the baseball against the ceiling. Maybe it was the steady beating that helped him to think. Sometimes he would simply let his mind drift off to wherever it wanted to go. Thoughts popped up and he began to contemplate them. In fact, he could easily spend hours mulling over everything. Maybe it was a sign that his future career was going to be a philosopher. Or maybe he was subconsciously trying to make sense of the world. Lately, though, his thoughts mainly included Rose. What could he have done so heinously wrong? Was it something he said, something he did? What was it? Girls...they were such strange creatures. No boy could ever hope to figure them out. Well, unless they were gay, but that wasn't really the point. He had spent how long trying to figure out what he'd done? He'd spent the same amount of time apologizing. It had to be like a hundred times he'd said he was sorry! ...Would a hundred and one work?

_Thump...thump...thump..._

It was weird. One day she just...snapped. She yelled at him so much he couldn't even remember half the things she said. She poked him in the chest a few times, threw her hands up in the air, did everything else to show her anger. Maybe he'd missed something she said, or maybe she said something and he'd misinterpreted it. Maybe she'd said something when he wasn't focusing and he said the wrong thing in response. But Rose was so nice, so forgiving... She used to be, anyway.

"Um...so, uh...yeah. Hey, I'll be at a local hotdog stand if you need me," Fu said, walking out the room.

Jake hardly noticed. He didn't know what to do anymore. It was as if right and wrong were simply blurred together. The fine line between them just...vanished. Just like that. Poof. If anything, he should be mad at her for ignoring him all this time. He was trying! He was trying hard to make it up to her! He was trying to fix this, and she wouldn't even acknowledge it! But he didn't want to be mad at her. Something in him wouldn't allow it. He didn't want to cut off all communications with her in hopes of making her call _him_. He was the boyfriend...maybe. Hopefully. _He_ was supposed to call _her_, not the other way around.

Hadn't she already broken his heart enough though? She was always leaving, always disappearing. She went to China for heaven's sake! _China!_ Then he had to get her to remember him again. It was all just so hard. Why did she have to make it so hard?

He caught the ball and gently set it on the nightstand that rested beside his bed. That stupid thumping was getting annoying anyway...

"Jake!" his mother called. "Dinner's ready!"

He got up with a soft groan. His tail popped back into its "normal" place. Apparently Grandpa hadn't told her about the whole end-of-the-world ordeal. Although to be truthful, it could actually turn out to be an end-of-the-world situation. If they couldn't stop the Dark Dragon this time...if the Dark Dragon had somehow managed to absorb the power of time as he traveled through it...maybe nothing would work. What if a thousand Roses couldn't stop him this time? And it wasn't even Rose who stopped him, it was the vortex itself. Now there was just...nothing.

There's a saying that says something like, "When all is lost, one shall rise." Or something like that anyway. Well, last time it took the combined power of all the world's dragons _and_ a highly trained dragon-slaying professional to bring down the most powerful of all mythical creatures. And even with all that help, the Dark Dragon still wasn't truly "brought down". If nothing more, he'd only been trapped. He was breaking out of time's prison. If time itself couldn't hold him, what could?

"Jake!" his mother called, much louder this time.

"Coming!" he shouted back as he moved swiftly to his seat at the table.

As Haley tested her food to see if it was the right temperature, Jake noticed something different about tonight. He really should've been expecting to see abnormalities, being as the baddest of the bad was hellbent on world domination.

Grandpa was at the table. The expression on his face was grim despite his efforts to hide it. Jake assumed nobody else knew about this. In fact, he hadn't told Spud and Trixie. Not yet at least. If worst came to shove, those two might be needed, human or not.

"So," his dad started, "anything new? Did you spot any unicorns or such?"

Haley smiled, flashing her pearl-white teeth in the adorable manner she was renowned for. "Well, it would be nice to see one. So far so good though!" She turned to him, still smiling. "Right, Jake?"

Not knowing what to say or do, he nodded.

"Well, it's a shame. Never saw one before, but I heard they're beautiful," his dad continued.

Unaware.

"Oh, they _are_ beautiful, Daddy! Just wait until you see one, maybe it'll let you ride it!" Haley giggled.

All of them.

"Well, pumpkin, I guess you'll have to teach me sometime."

They were all so blissfully unaware of the danger they were in. Maybe it was a good idea to keep quiet for now, but, as he saw in his grandfather's eyes, there was no way they could stay this happy for much longer. The secret was going to be revealed soon. Grandpa knew it, Fu knew it, Jake knew it... And to think, they were the only ones who knew about the Dark Dragon's reappearance. Well, other than the oracle twins. It was rare for Sarah to have a sad face, or even a serious one. When she told the local dragon, "amazingly" enough the _American_ dragon, her face was just as glum as Cara's. And when he turned to Cara hoping to hear a good side to all this, she only shook her head.

There was no good side.

He'd pondered over that. If there was no good side, then what exactly was going to happen? Obviously it would be bad, but what kind of path would this whole thing go down? There were a million bad things that could happen, but only a certain number of them could take place. It would've been easier if he knew all the details, but Sarah only told him what she saw, and her vision wasn't very detailed. All she knew was that at the hill in Hong Kong, where her family was currently staying at Grandpa's insistence, the Dark Dragon would dig his way out.

Jake was young and fit, so naturally he was sent out to investigate that hill and see how much time they had. It was disappointing to know how unprepared they were.

"Jake, you okay over there?" His father's words came but they went in one ear and out the other.

Rose was the world to him. It was his duty as the American dragon to save the world. But his perspective of the world wasn't just of a planet. His world was sweet, warm, cute, funny, intelligent, loyal, caring...she was...everything. Like a rose with no thorns, one with the greatest quality of color, the softest of petals, and the utmost of joy that it brings to you when you receive it. He could never believe she was mean by nature, that was just impossible! Sure, she'd tried to chop him up a few times, but that was all in the past.

_"I'm sorry, Jake, but us being together right now...it's just too dangerous."_

She always used to say that. Even though it was true, he couldn't bear it. It used to be her main excuse to get away from him. Now the Huntsclan was eradicated, the Dark Dragon technically _was_ still trapped in the vortex, and there were no major distractions. Nothing could be dangerous about being around Rose anymore. She used to be sweet as pie but now it was like someone added too much pepper to her recipe. Something...something went wrong. He messed up, and he messed up bigtime. All he had to do was find out why she was so furious with him, and fix it. Problem was...she wouldn't tell him. If he did something wrong, then he had no memory of it. But he still had to find some way of making things right again.

"C'mon," he murmured to himself. "You're the Am-drag, you can totally do this."

First, he needed to find out what was wrong, and it was clear Rose wasn't going to tell him up front. Assuming that was phase one of the patch-things-up plan, he needed a second phase. Once he found out what was wrong, what came next? Flowers and chocolate? Unlikely. Phase two would be the part where he cleverly devised a plan to get Rose off the dark side. He suspected that the hardest part was phase one, since the only one who could even hint at him what was up was Rose; and let's face it, she did _not_ want to talk to him.

"Jake, are you alright?" Haley asked, probably about half worried.

He continued trying to think of a way to get Rose to give him at least one little clue, but for the sake of letting everyone know he wasn't in a talkative mood right now, he answered his little sister anyway.

"Yeah, just thinking," he mumbled.

"About what?" she asked.

"Just dragon stuff," he answered.

His grandfather looked at him in surprise, thinking he was going to tell the family about the Dark Dragon. He wasn't. Not until his grandfather was ready.

Now, back to Rose... He couldn't communicate with her from the outside world, and he couldn't go talking about...wait! That was it, that was it! It was so simple, right in front of his nose...sort of...all along! Rose was and had always been deeply rooted into the magical world, into the life of mythical creatures. Her family, however, wasn't and never had been. They didn't even know magical creatures existed. Thanks to that wish he made with the thirteenth Aztec skull, Rose, like him, was tied to normal family life and the complexities of the magical world. Oh wow, this would be easier than he thought. No more hard games to play, at long last! There was only one way to talk to Rose, and this was it.

In an instant he dashed from the table to open the window, leaving his untouched food and his dazed family behind. A wave of blue mist filled the air. The last thing they was the tip of a red tail smoothing over the windowsill. The last thing they heard was the spreading of bat-like wings, which by the way sounded oddly similar to a piece of paper flapping helplessly in the wind.

Jake found it fairly easy to locate Rose's apartment complex. The clouds were just dense enough to shroud him from human eyes, yet just thin enough for him to see the landscape below.

He flew up to Rose's window. Ironic, really. He ended up in the same place that he chose to leave. All he had to do was just sneak in through the window! And unlike his old bulky dragon form, his newer snakelike body allowed extreme agility and amazingly swift aerial maneuvers. It was also slimmer, meaning he could _literally_ slip through the window frame. And what luck he had, it was even open! Rose was practically inviting him in!

He decided it was best if he clung the the side of the brick wall, that way he would be less noticeable. Plan A was now in action. He slowly climbed up the brick, still trying to make himself look as inconspicuous as possible. The brick wall provided for good enough traction for his claws to hang on to.

It felt like forever, even though it was only a few short seconds, but he made it to the window frame, reaching one hand out to grasp the ledge.

He paused when he heard, "How many times do I have to tell that girl to keep her window closed?"

He felt a sudden pain in his fingers and knew the window had just smashed his hand. He covered his mouth to muffle the scream. Tears were brought to his eyes as he tried to get a grip by repeatedly banging his free hand against the wall.

"Time for Plan B, time for Plan B!" he squeaked, just barely managing to pull his trapped hand out.


End file.
